EQUITIES
Foreigners sell NT$6.31bn
Foreign investors last week sold a net NT$6.31 billion (US$226.73 million) of local shares after buying a net NT$15.5 billion a week earlier, the Taiwan Stock Exchange said in a statement yesterday. As of Friday, foreign investors had sold NT$28.48 billion of local shares from the beginning of the year, it said. Last week, the top three shares foreign investors sold were Innolux Corp (群創), United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) and AU Optronics Corp (友達光電), while the top three bought were Winbond Electronics Corp (華邦電子), China Airlines Ltd (中華航空) and Evergreen Marine Corp (長榮海運), the exchange said. The market cap of shares held by foreign investors was NT$24.52 trillion, or 43.4 percent of total market capitalization, it said.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Marketech proposes dividend
Semiconductor equipment supplier Marketech International Corp (帆宣) yesterday said its board of directors proposed to distribute a cash dividend of NT$4.5 per share after the company reported that net profit was up 69.35 percent year-on-year to NT$1.55 billion last year. With earnings per share of NT$8.24, the proposed dividend represented a payout ratio of 54.61 percent. It also translated into a dividend yield of 2.71 percent. Marketech shares closed at NT$165.5 in Taipei trading yesterday.
METALS
China Steel profit falls 7.89%
China Steel Corp (中鋼) yesterday reported that pretax profit last month decreased 7.89 percent month-on-month to NT$5.49 billion due to declines in average selling prices and higher costs of sales. The Kaohsiung-based company said that shipments fell 0.37 percent to 724,225 tonnes from 726,884 tonnes in the previous month. On an annual basis, pretax profit surged 52 percent from NT$3.61 billion, it said. Sales last month were NT$40.02 billion, down 2 percent month-on-month, but up 30 percent year-on-year, it said.
AIRLINES
StarLux prepares new planes
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) on Saturday took delivery of its first wide-body aircraft, an Airbus A330-900neo, which it plans to put into service in May. The plane would initially fly regional routes to Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Macau, Tokyo and Singapore, it said. Under its agreement to lease eight A330neos, Starlux is to take delivery of an additional three A330neos this year, it said.
BIOPHARMA
Agency sets Taigexyn price
TaiGen Biopharmaceuticals Holdings Ltd (太景醫藥研發控股) last week said that the National Health Insurance Administration set a reimbursement price of NT$2,200 for its intravenously administered antibiotic Taigexyn, effective from Monday next week. Taigexyn is used to treat bacterial infections, including those caused by drug-resistant bacteria. It works faster than an oral drug and can be given to hospitalized patients or those who cannot take oral drugs due to severe illness, the company said.
REAL ESTATE
YeaShin planning projects
YeaShin International Development Co (亞昕國際開發) has 4,000 ping (13,223m2) of undeveloped plots in Taichung and plans to launch one to two projects annually that could generate more than NT$20 billion in revenue, the Taipei-based developer said last week. Its presale project of 60 apartment units, which feature two to four bedrooms, in Taichung’s Beitun District (北屯) is 93 percent sold out, the company said.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth
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